Vonitsa in the context of "Despotate of Epiros"

The Despotate of Epirus (Medieval Greek: Δεσποτᾶτον τῆς Ἠπείρου) was one of the Greek rump states of the Byzantine Empire established in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 by a branch of the Angelos dynasty. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire during the subsequent struggle for Constantinople, along with the Empire of Nicaea and the Empire of Trebizond; its rulers briefly proclaiming themselves as Emperors in 1227–1242 (during which it is most often called the Empire of Thessalonica). The term "Despotate of Epirus" is, like "Byzantine Empire" itself, a modern historiographic convention and not a name in use at the time.

The Despotate was centred on the region of Epirus, encompassing also Albania and the western portion of Greek Macedonia and also included Thessaly and western Greece as far south as Nafpaktos. Through a policy of aggressive expansion under Theodore Komnenos Doukas the Despotate of Epirus also briefly came to incorporate central Macedonia, with the establishment of the Empire of Thessalonica in 1224, and Thrace as far east as Didymoteicho and Adrianople, and was on the verge of recapturing Constantinople and restoring the Byzantine Empire before the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 where he was defeated by the Bulgarian Empire. After that, the Epirote state contracted to its core in Epirus and Thessaly, and was forced into vassalage to other regional powers. It nevertheless managed to retain its autonomy until being conquered by the restored Palaiologan Byzantine Empire in ca. 1337. In the 1410s, Carlo I Tocco, Count Palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, managed to reunite the core of the Epirote state, but his successors gradually lost it to the advancing Ottoman Empire, with the last stronghold, Vonitsa, falling to the Ottomans in 1479.

The Ambracian Gulf, also known as the Gulf of Arta or the Gulf of Actium, and in some official documents as the Amvrakikos Gulf (Greek: Αμβρακικός κόλπος, romanized: Amvrakikos kolpos), is a gulf of the Ionian Sea in northwestern Greece. About 40 km (25 mi) long and 15 km (9 mi) wide, it is one of the largest enclosed gulfs in Greece, and due to its ecological importance is one of the National Parks of Greece. The towns of Preveza, Amphilochia (formerly Karvassaras), and Vonitsa lie on its shores.

King Otto of Greece was deposed in a popular insurrection in October 1862. Starting on 18 October in Vonitsa, it soon spread to other cities and reached Athens on 22 October.

Aktio–Vonitsa (Greek: Άκτιο-Βόνιτσα) is a municipality in the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit of the West Greece region of Greece. Its seat is the town of Vonitsa. The municipality has an area of 660.172 km.

National Road 42 (Greek: Εθνική Οδός 42) is a highway in northwestern Aetolia-Acarnania and in Lefkada, Greece. It links the town of Lefkada with the Greek National Road 5 (Antirrio - Arta - Ioannina) in Amfilochia, passing through the town of Vonitsa.

The eastern part of the GR-42, between Amfilochia and Vonitsa, runs along the southern shore of the Ambracian Gulf. The highway contains a bridge over the Vonitsa Lagoon. A drawbridge form the connection of the island of Lefkada to the mainland. The road ends in the town of Lefkada.

The Acarnanian Mountains (Greek: Ακαρνανικά όρη, Akarnanika ori) is a mountain range in the northwestern part of the Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit in western Greece. It stretches from the village Monastiraki, near Vonitsa, in the north to Astakos in the south, with a total length of nearly 40 km. The Ionian Sea lies to the west.